Two 12-year-old Piscataway boys are charged with breaking into seven homes in the township this week, police said.

The crimes took place during the day when people were at work and the homes were unoccupied. Although the houses were ransacked, with draws opened and clothes ruffled, only loose change and an old coat were stolen, said Capt. Richard Ivone said.

"They took very little," he said. "We don't really know what the motivation was. Possibly it was just boredom," he said.

After officers took the complaints on Wednesday, investigators quickly canvassed the neighborhood, asking if people had seen anything suspicious, and gathered enough information to identify the two boys, Ivone said.

"It just shows how working together with the neighborhood can bring results," Ivone said.

Police received complaints about four break-ins, but during the investigation discovered three more houses had been entered.

That number of houses in such a short time indicates the juveniles were going from house to house, Ivone said.

In each house, he said, the intruders crawled through an unsecured window.

Detectives from the juvenile bureau are handling the case and in addition to the burglary charges, the juveniles face theft and criminal mischief charges for the damage done to screens and other parts of the homes.

Both suspects were released to their parents, pending a hearing in Family Court.